(CNN) — Quebec reported six more people who tested positive for the E. coli O157:H7 strain, bringing the total there to 692 cases since April, two more deaths and a third hospitalization, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette said Thursday.
Those numbers don’t include three new cases reported on Friday.
The latest outbreaks include a statement on one case involving a 16-year-old girl who was hospitalized last week in the Montreal suburb of Saint-Lambert, Quebec, according to the department of public health and the provincial ministry of health.
The girl is recovering in an intensive care unit.
She had stopped eating raw shellfish about two weeks ago, the statement said.
Also, for the first time, the health ministry said it’s aware of the presence of at least one of the E. coli strains on people who began vomiting within 24 hours of a consuming contaminated raw oysters on Thursday.
“The source of this illness is unconfirmed, and that is one of the reasons why people need to always follow the warnings,” the ministry said.
None of the cases is considered to be severe, according to the health ministry.
Quebec reported several confirmed cases of the outbreak on Tuesday, including five cases in Saguenay, more than 3,000 miles west of Quebec City.
As of Wednesday, the number of reported cases nationwide and in other parts of Canada was 522.
There were 18 cases in Quebec in the first three weeks of the outbreak, the ministry said.
Those were all reported from hospitals in Saint-Sauveur, which is just southwest of Saguenay.
The final number of cases may be higher, the ministry said.
E. coli bacteria can cause bloody diarrhea, abdominal cramps, vomiting and dehydration.
The risk of infection for children younger than 5, pregnant women, the elderly and those with weakened immune systems is greatest, the ministry said.
The risk to healthy adults depends on eating properly cooked, raw shellfish, including oysters.
Canada recorded a national E. coli outbreak in June when at least 16 people in Ontario and Quebec were sickened, according to the Canadian Food Inspection Agency.
Canadian health officials say bacteria were isolated from an oyster farm near Vancouver.
On June 22, Quebec, the province where three of the most recent illnesses are registered, began a “wide-scale promotional campaign” warning people about the risk of eating raw shellfish, the ministry said.